On the first day of the new legislative session, Assembly Education Chair Patrick O’Donnell (Long Beach) introduced a school bond bill with the intent of having it on the ballot in 2020. With recognition that bond authority for new construction projects is exhausted and in anticipation of the depletion of modernization authority by mid-2019, no Proposition 51 funding authority for such projects will remain. The introduction of the bond bill is therefore timely.

The primary election in California will be in March 2020. Anticipating the passage of the O’Donnell bill by the legislature and signature by Governor-Elect Newsom in 2019, the bond could be on the ballot in the primary election. The bond bill as introduced declares intent for a Kindergarten through Community College (K-14) bond but does not yet propose a specific dollar amount. The bill will kick off negotiations with the Legislature and a wide variety of stakeholders over the coming year.